6 Points to Consider Before Purchasing a Second Health Insurance Plan

Does your health insurance not cover your parents?

Do you have health insurance, but want another health plan for your spouse?

Are you looking for a second health insurance policy to cover additional diseases?

If your answer is ‘yes’, then this post is worth a read.

Buying a second health insurance plan is not a trivial job. You need to assess several things before buying another plan for a successful health insurance investment.

Read this article as it gives a wealth of information that you should know before choosing a second health insurance policy.  

Buying Second Health Insurance

Since you want to buy a second health insurance plan, considering your existing conditions and future requirements is paramount. Look at:

• Your age and the age of other members to be covered
• The number of family members you want to cover
• Your current income
• If any member is suffering from any disease
• Coverage available under the current policy

Generally, a health insurance policy covers the following:

• In-patient treatment (room rent, doctor’s fee, ICU charges, nursing, medicine's costs)
• Road ambulance services (air ambulance in some plans)
• Expenses incurred on pre-hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation
• Domiciliary hospitalisation (treatment taken at home due to severe health conditions or lack of bed at the hospital)
• Daycare treatment (treatments that do not require 24 hours of hospitalisation)

Besides these benefits, you should look for some additional benefits when searching for a second policy.

For instance, if you are looking to tie the knot soon, you should opt for a plan that offers the coverage for spouse and kid. 

Below are things to consider before choosing a second health insurance policy.

Policy Coverage 

If your existing plan is falling short of delivering the promised offerings, then it's time to start looking for another plan. Sometimes, policies get unable to comply with your family's medical needs due to some limitations, exclusions or capping features in them. If you've faced a similar situation, then make sure as if the second policy acquires no sub-limits, co-payment clauses, or any other hidden limitations or exclusions. Ensuring this will help you avert any type of hurdle during hospitalization.

For example, say you are planning a baby. Then opting for a maternity policy with a waiting period of 2-3 years can be an ideal choice.

However, you can reduce the waiting period by paying a bit more premium (read the policy wording to make sure whether this feature is available with your plan or not). 

Top-up Plans

Besides going for a second health insurance policy, you can buy a top-up plan (a type of plan you can buy on your existing health insurance policy to enhance the coverage). A top-up plan provides coverage beyond the sum insured limit of your existing plan. It enhances your health insurance features and benefits.

• A top-up plan can be bought on your existing plan or as a basic policy.
• You can opt for such plans either from the current insurer or from any other insurer.
• If you possess an insurance cover offered by your firm, you can pick a top-up policy on the same and can enhance your saving. 

So, go for a top-up plan before buying a new health insurance policy.

Critical Illness Riders

A critical illness rider is an optional add-on feature. It enables policyholders to avail a lump sum (Sum Assured) amount in case he/she is diagnosed with critical illnesses mentioned in the policy wording. Thus, it can protect you and your family from any financial crunch that may arise due to some unforeseen critical illnesses.

The best thing is that a critical illness rider is available at a lower premium rate than the premium paid for second health insurance. You can buy it to compliment your existing health insurance. It can protect you and your family from any financial crunch that may arise due to some unforeseen critical illnesses.

So, if you are purchasing an additional health insurance plan just to cover critical illnesses, it is advisable to opt for a critical illness rider instead of going for another policy.

Look for portability feature

Portability feature is an option to change your health insurance policy from one insurance company to another without losing the benefits you have accumulated.

If you are planning to buy a second health insurance policy just because you’re not satisfied with the service offered by your existing insurer, it is advisable to change your insurer. By this way, you will not lose the benefits of your existing policy.

While availing the portability option, you should opt for a higher sum insured (higher than the sum insured of your current insurer) with extra offerings and benefits such as critical illness cover. So, portability is can be an ideal option to upgrade your existing plan and avail more coverage benefits and better service than before. 

Lifelong Renewability

If you have a health insurance policy, which allows the renewability option up to a certain age only, then you must opt for a new plan with lifetime renewability feature. This is beneficial because once you reach the age beyond which you can’t renew your policy, a plan with the lifetime renewability allows you to renew your policy lifetime i.e. without any age restriction.

So, even if you forget to renew your plan before the due date, the grace period (the policy will be renewable provided you pay the premium within 15 days after the expiry date) can give you a chance to renew your plan post the due date without losing its benefits.

Also Read

Buying Your Second Health Insurance? Read This First!

Bajaj Allianz - An Affordable Health Insurance Choice

Over To You

If you ‘re dissatisfied with your health insurance policy and want to buy a second insurance plan, get in touch with the InsuranceDekho team at 1800-120-5698. We will suggest you the best option to upgrade your health policy, thereby preventing you from spending an unnecessary amount.